Some of my favorites from a post at Tor.com today entitled “Picturing Dragons”
Afternoon Dragons with Tea
Tag: dragons
Book Review: Tea with Black Dragon by MacAvoy (3.6 Stars)
Tea with Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy
Read in August 2009
Recommended to me by Janny Wurts
Synopsis:
Martha Macnamara knows that her daughter Elizabeth is in trouble, she just doesn’t know what kind. Mysterious phone calls from San Francisco at odd hours of the night are the only contact she has had with Elizabeth for years. Now, Elizabeth has sent her a plane ticket and reserved a room for her at San Francisco’s most luxurious hotel. Yet she has not tried to contact Martha since she arrived, leaving her lonely, confused and a little bit worried. Into the story steps Mayland Long, a distinguished-looking and wealthy Chinese man who lives at the hotel and is drawn to Martha’s good nature and ability to pinpoint the truth of a matter. Mayland and Martha become close in a short period of time and he promises to help her find Elizabeth, making small inroads in the mystery before Martha herself disappears. Now Mayland is struck by the realization, too late, that he is in love with Martha, and now he fears for her life. Determined to find her, he sets his prodigious philosopher’s mind to work on the problem, embarking on a potentially dangerous adventure.
My Thoughts:
I curled up with this book Continue reading “Book Review: Tea with Black Dragon by MacAvoy (3.6 Stars)”
How We Won the War on Dungeons & Dragons
This takes me back to the ‘dark side’ of my youth.
Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon
Book Review: His Majesty’s Dragon by Novik (4 Stars)
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
Read in November 2008
Why do I love tales of adventure on the high seas? Is it because I’ve always lived in Kansas, thousands of miles away from the ocean? And the icing on the cake? Dragons!
We meet Captain Laurence as he’s defeated and captured the French ship Amerité. Within its hold is a peculiar and very precious cargo, which Captain Laurence transfers immediately to his ship, the HMS Reliant. The Reliant‘s surgeon confirms the cargo is a dragon egg. Due to the recent stormy weather, which blew the French ship off course, the egg is hardened to the point of imminent hatching. Captain Laurence gathers his officers to discuss their options. The dragon egg is too great a prize for England to let the hatchling turn feral, so Laurence has his officers draw straws to present one of them as a handler for the dragon. However, the dragon, once hatched, has other ideas and refuses everyone … except Laurence. Laurence names the dragon Temeraire and their adventure begins.
Laurence immediately resigns or transfers his commission as Captain to his second lieutenant and spends the time on the return voyage to England in caring for Temeraire. Once they arrive in England, Laurence and Temeraire are transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Corps to being their training immediately. England may dominate the oceans with her Navy, the Napoleon waits across the channel with 100,000 men and his own dragons, waiting for the perfect opportunity to invade.
Naomi Novik does a fantastic job of drawing me into the early 19th century. She weaves the existence of dragons and their military applications into our history flawlessly and believably. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.
Friday (May 3, 2013) Steal: Ebook edition on sale for 99 cents!